Join Wednesday, February 11, 2026 at 6pm EST for "Waste vs. Want: On Bookkeeping and Deaccessioning Artists Books" an in-person talk by 2025 Center for Book Arts Research Fellow and Chemist Julian R. Silverman.
In nature, ‘waste’ is a matter of perspective as it is inevitably transformed as part of larger cycles. However, across art media, art objects, and collections, waste is often defined and managed using metadata and the systems we use to catalog objects. Exploring artists’ books from across the Center for Book Art’s (CBA) collections, we can examine waste as content in art, waste as materials for creating art, and waste as a potential outcome of poorly managed materials. By examining the role and process of deaccessioning objects from collections, we find ways to make the creation, exhibition, and circulation of art more sustainable. Augmenting this work, scientific tools are used to develop methods for addressing the safety and sustainability of art materials and objects. Connecting these ideas to studio practice, a trash audit at the CBA reveals both the material makings of artists’ books and waste generated along the way. Infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy reveal the composition and structure of waste materials to be upcycled. Ultimately, as information, metadata contextualizes materials within larger systems. When metadata stays connected to matter, there is no such thing as waste. Using scientific tools to code and help categorize materials, we can choose how and when art objects circulate across social, cultural, and natural systems.
The talk will last 40-45 minutes, followed by a Q&A with the Book Arts Research Fellow
Zoom
NY
United States